Cooling tower wall



July 20, 19 65 E. M. BRAZELTON COOLING TOWER WALL Filed April 6. 1962'- I VE T0 fVE/QET/"M 516425470 United States Patent 3,195,761 COSLING TOWER WALL Everett M. Brazelton, Burlingame, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Fluorlrodncts Company, Inc, Santa Rosa, Califi, a corporation of California Filed Apr. 6, H62, Ser. No. 185,553 1 Claim. (Cl. 1896) This invention relates to cooling towers and similar structures which are subjected to wetting from inside. In such structures corrugated siding is generally used. Crests are disposed horizontally to help stitfenthe structurn against sidesway. The present advance contemplates a method of attaching the corrugated siding to suitable supports.

In applying siding to cooling tower walls it has been common practice to form horizontal joints by overlapping the lower sheet outward over the upper sheet. Water laying against the inside of the upper sheet streams onto the inside of the lower sheet below the top.

To follow the procedure of fastening lower sheets outward over upper sheets it has been necessary to begin applying the sheets from the top and progress downward. The supports which are usually vertical posts have had to be complete before the application of siding could be begun.

By the present teaching, siding is applied in a novel and facile manner. Commercially available sheets of siding are sinusoidal in form. In the present context, corrugated sheets define alternating outward and inward crests. Standard sheets terminate between crests approximately at nodes. In forming cooling tower joints by the method here contemplated, a first sheet of standard siding is cut along a crest so that one end of the first sheet terminates in a lip. Starting at the bottom the first sheet is fastened to supports with the lip upward and outward. A conventional end of the second sheet is seated in the lip for positioning and temporary support while it is being fastened to the supports. A similar joint is provided between the second and third sheets, and so forth. Of course, the joints need not be horizontal and the sheets may be precut for convenience.

Basically, this advance speeds cooling tower erection. Working from the bottom up permits siding to be begun before the upper supports are installed. The siding already in place serves to position subsequent sheets thereby improving safety.

These and other advantages will appear more fully from the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE I is an isometric sectional view through a cooling tower wall constructed according to this invention.

FIGURE II issues the side joinder of adjacent corrugated sheets.

FIGURE III is a horizontal section taken on line III- III of FIGURE I.

In the drawing, siding generally designated 1 is supported by vertical posts 2. The siding is shown to be asbestos sheets although any suitable corrugated siding material such as metal or plastic could be employed.

Inside 3 is exposed to a shower of liquid (not shown).

Commercially available sheets of siding define alternating crests 4 and terminate approximately at nodes 6.

First sheet 7 serves to temporarily support second sheet "ice 8 in position to be attached to vertical posts 2. First sheet 7 also coacts with second sheet 8 to form horizontal joint 9. Toward these objectives first sheet 7 is cut along crest 11 so that it terminates in lip 12. The first sheet is attached to posts 2 with lip 12 projecting outward and upward relative the posts. Conventional end 13 of second sheet 8 is seated in lip 12 while being fastened to posts 2.

In this manner siding is applied from the bottom up.

Drive screws 14 are used to fasten the sheets of siding.

Synthetic rubber washers 16 are bonded to drive screws 14 for sealing.

Battens 17 overlap the sides of adjacent sheets to form vertical joints.

Since the siding is placed over the frame, starting at the bottom, and continuing to the top, and since each upper sheet rests in a crest at the top edge of the lower sheet, the upper sheet is supported while being secured to the frame. For this reason, the construction is simpler and safer. Also, expense of exterior scaffolding is eliminated. Since each sheet is supported by the lower sheet, construction from the interior of the frame is readily possible eliminating the need for expensive exterior scaffolding. Furthermore, this is accomplished simply and inexpensively as no frames or extra supports are required.

Other framing details are conventional.

It will be apparent that wide changes can be made in the details of the shown embodiment without departing from the scope of invention defined in the claim.

What is claimed is:

A cooling tower wall, said wall including a plurality of vertically extending and horizontally spaced frame members, said wall further comprising:

a series of corrugated sheets having the axis of their troughs and crests extending horizontally along said wall, each sheet having two horizontal edges parallel to the axis of the corrugations, the upper of said edges of each sheet terminating in an outwardly projecting lip and the lower edge of each sheet terminating in an inwardly projecting end, the outwardly projecting lip of each corrugated sheet overlapping the end of the next higher sheet outwardly of said horizon-tally spaced frame members;

strips overlying the abutting edges of horizontally adjacent sheets;

whereby each succeeding higher corrugated sheet may be supported behind the outwardly projecting lip of the next lower sheet during application of said corrugated sheets to said spaced frame members obviating the need for scaffolding during the assembly of said sheets on said spaced frame members.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/97 Montross 50-22'8 8/19 Murphy 1-89-85 9/21 Macot 50241 6/59 De Flon 20-O5 

